I love picking the wine for November for one reason…It’s my birth month, so I allow myself to go to left field a little on the pick. Another words, a wine that is more aligned to my palate preference, rather than searching for and eighty percent wine (a wine I feel 80% of the people who try it will like it). Funny thing, last year when I did this, we sold a ton of the wine at the store. I like it when you stretch out your palate horizons and try something that isn’t necessarily mainline. This year, I was at a wine tasting event and ran across this little gem and knew immediately it would be my pick for November.
Stan’s Pick For November
2012 Mocali Fossetti Rosso Toscano (Tuscany, Italy)… $11.
This wine is 100% Sangiovese Grosso from Montalcino fruit (think Brunello). Fruit with thicker skins and smaller berries, makes for a deeper more complex wine. This red shows all of that (and the ability to age) for a ridiculous price.
Aromas of cherries with a little rust thrown in, joined by tobacco, tar and hits of cranberries. Polished tannins support tobacco and cherry notes on the palate. It is amazingly elegant for the power that lies underneath. Rust notes and tobacco dominate the mid-palate into the finish with a little cranberry action sneaking in. This wine shows rusticity and deliciousness at the same time, and let me tell you that is a hard thing to attain. There is a nice acidic backbone lending this wine well with food. Excellent balance and structure. I believe this wine will age and improve over the next five years. Think of this as a working person’s Brunello. I know I’m tucking a few of these away in my cellar.
By the way, the cheapest I found this wine on-line was $13. I don’t blame merchants for taking a higher margin for the quality this wine shows. If you know where I work, you know right now you can get it for $12 all month…Just saying. (B+)
Distributed by Dickerson Distributing (Bellingham, WA) and Click Wholesale and Distributing (Seattle, WA)
Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man
